[NFBV-Potomac-Announce] August 12, 2021 Potomac Chapter Meeting Minutes

[John Halverson]

Hello,

Below are the minutes for the August 12, 2021 Potomac Chapter Meeting.



August 12, 2021 Potomac Chapter Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. and 20 members were present. These included 5 members gathered at St. Georges Episcopal Church and 15 members participating via Zoom.
The June meeting minutes were approved without correction.
The treasurer's report was approved. The current balance is $1,957.67 in the general fund and $1,750.00 in the youth fund.

Upcoming activities:
A location has not yet been confirmed for an October 9 Meet the Blind Month walking event. We need to select an Arlington area politician to issue a proclamation. The social committee will meet before the next chapter meeting to finalize these details.
Sandy provided an update on arrangements for Charlie Brown's funeral. There is a 22-passenger bus taking members to Charlie Brown's funeral on Saturday. So far, 16 passengers are confirmed to travel on the bus. The bus will depart the church at noon on Saturday. The service begins at 2 pm with a reception following. The bus will return around 6 pm Saturday evening. Members can pay for their bus seat in cash or through PayPal.
The chapter picnic will be held on Saturday September 11 at the home of John and Sandy Halverson.
Food arrangements will be discussed with the social committee and might include either a potluck or purchasing food from a restaurant.

State convention:
As the host chapter, we need to identify presenters for the opening ceremonies. Christine believes there was someone in the 2020 scholarship class who has done color guard duties in the past. Joe O. will contact Jimmy Morris to find out who this person was.
There will be four invocations during the convention. Rachel, Diana, and Christine have volunteered to give Jewish, Catholic, and secular invocations, respectively. Christine will look for someone to provide a Muslim invocation. We can also invite someone from St. Georges Episcopal Church to do an invocation during the banquet.
Hospitality night: We need an activity that can be enjoyed by both in-person and virtual participants. The chapter board met previously and discussed serving a meal to the in-person folks on Friday night along with activities that involve both in-person and virtual participants. Ideas included improvisation games and an activity based on "The Moth" NPR podcast which involves personal storytelling. Stories should not be blindness or COVID related. We could have people work with a storytelling coach in advance to help with developing the story. John Bailey has agreed to serve as a storytelling coach and reviewing stories in advance.
Christine will distribute a link to a sample episode of "the moth" so members can listen and get an idea of how the program works.
It was suggested to have some people pre-record their stories to be played at the event in the meeting room and on Zoom.
Some members were not enthusiastic about the storytelling idea. They felt that hospitality should be a time for social interaction rather than sitting and listening to stories. They also suggested having music played during the event. One compromise may be to play music during dinner and then have the storytelling after dinner. Members could suggest songs to include in the playlist.
Christine proposed forming a committee of chapter members to meet separately to develop ideas for the hospitality night and other convention planning. Interested members should contact Christine.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Arielle Silverman, Secretary, NFB Potomac Chapter




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